Since Bungie announced that they would be moving away from the Halo franchise and starting development on the upcoming PS4/Xbox One title, Destiny, fans have been wondering if they would be able to keep up the stellar track record they started. During E3 this year, Activision held a behind doors hands-off preview of the multiplayer aspect and this is what happened.
Sitting in a makeshift screening room set up in the middle of the Los Angles Convention Center, we expected new gameplay footage to be shown, but sadly we were taken through the exact same level that was shown at the Sony press conference. Soon we realized that it was worse than we expected, it was not only the same level but the same script.
Sitting there watch the same level, I was able to pay more attention to some of the details about the game that I had missed before, such as Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage making an appearance or the fact that there was a character who had spawned too early during our preview. As each character was supposed to be dropped off at specific moments, one of the cast members was spawned ahead of schedule and was never seen being dropped off – something that was later confirmed to us by a Bungie employee.
Looking at the gameplay, Destiny really does seem like a Borderlands styled open-world shooter with some form of looting based class system. The art style that it goes for I think works better for its more serious tone and shows off just how wonderful the PS4 will be able handle textures and lighting (also, there’s a big Halo-vibe going on with a lot of the visual style). Sadly, I will say that, having heard the guns from various sources, they did come off a bit dull and muted for how hyped up they were during the conference. Information on how many weapons will be available at launch will also be important in determining the real structure of the game, so that we know if there will be as much focus on the loot or simply the level grind and story itself.
Overall, Destiny really does look amazing and will probably become one of the biggest titles to hit next-gen in 2014 – so make sure to keep an eye out for it here on PSLS as we bring you the latest updates on this ‘Best of E3’ award winning title.
